Tuesday morning, the first thing I saw on Facebook was the image of a spray-painted GLBT display board. This board, and the organization it represents, was the victim of a cruel act of hate toward the GLBT community.
My day began by reading the comments below the picture. As the week progressed, I read full-page statements of solidarity in Technician, columns devoted to discussions on diversity, and later that day I read a statement by the Provost and Executive Vice Chancellor of the University, condemning this incident.
While this certainly reassured me we truly are a welcoming campus, I could not help but think, did this even deserve so much attention?
Every now and then some incident of violence or similar verbal assault against specific groups of people surfaces on campus. And every time the who’s who of the University gather to collectively condemn and abhor the incident.
As evinced by the solid show of support by students following this act, it should be clear to anyone at State that he or she is completely welcome here, no exceptions.
But looking back at this, I cannot help but ask them: Did you not already have this belief in the campus community? The very fact we have numerous diversity-inclusion institutions speaks volumes about the University’s attitude. We should desist from reacting too so strongly and repeatedly to vile acts by miscreants, whose only aim is to garner publicity by such methods.
Because this latest incident took place in the blanket of night, the person who did it will probably never have the strength to come forward and accept his or her actions. This was not the first of a series of previously unsuccessful attempts at segregation, but it should be enough for us to believe we have already won this battle before it even began.
It is not necessary to react to such hate crimes every time. Ignorance and inaction can be as strong a deterrent as anything else. The people who were involved in this incident had only one objective in mind: to get the maximum attention possible. And guess what? In a way, they have achieved it.
If we had only chosen to ignore this and the words were simply removed from the board, they would have failed in their objectives. Nobody on campus would have known the GLBT community is disliked by someone on campus. The first thing I would have seen that morning could well have been somebody wearing an ‘I Love Diversity’ T-shirt on the Brickyard.
By responding to such acts, we only strengthen this diminutive group’s conviction that people can still be divided on this issue, or at least that such issues can be invoked at will—their will.
In a way, the fault is ours as well. We tend to give skewed importance to issues of homosexuality, race, religion and maybe even political opinion. It is high time we realize Person A is always going to be different, very, very different, from any Person B. No two people can ever be the same, and just by my existence I add diversity to N.C . State and to this world in general. Such distinct categories have been created only by us, and therefore can only be dissolved by us again.
If you look at diversity from such a broad perspective, can you think of any way to prove that the GLBT community is any different in importance to, say, the anime-lovers’ society? Both have a very specific set of choices, interests and views toward life. If someone had written ‘Anime-lovers go burn yourself’ on that group’s display board, I doubt it would have contracted a response from the Provost.
Think of what you want the world to know you as and think of what you want your own identity to be. Chances are your first choice is not related to your sexuality, color, religion, nationality or political opinion. Feel bad only when someone attacks you based on your central identity; otherwise, have the strength to take it in your stride.
If you choose not to feel hurt, then the other person has simply failed to hurt you. If you decide not to accept defeat then you have already earned your victory.
